Air travel demand still stronger than ever

Airlines benefit from rise of more than 7% in August
Global air travel rose by a stronger-than-expected 7.1% in the month of August compared to the same month a year ago, the International Air Transport Association reports. Industry load factors reached an all-time high in August.
After certain holiday distortions in the previous months, the August data confirms that the trend in air travel growth remains “very strong”, IATA said, despite the softening in global economic growth.
Growth in air travel, particularly the more price sensitive economy class, has received some support from lower fares, while international air travel growth was strong in all major regions, especially Asia Pacific (+7.5%) where demand has not been impacted by declines in trade nor the slowdown in China.
In Europe, carriers saw traffic increase by 5.7%. Economic recovery in the Eurozone is supporting demand for international travel, IATA said. Capacity climbed 4.1% and load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 88.3%, once again highest among the regions.
On domestic markets, India continues to record very strong growth, up 18.3%, reflecting increases in service frequencies as well as ongoing economic strength. By contrast, air travel in Australia rose just 1.7% in August year-on-year, with income growth remaining relatively subdued.TTG Nordic